


Retire With You

by IAANPUNCH5



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: M/M, felix loves old people, i swear the rest of skz will be there at some point, just dickin around in the tags now, set in a retirement village, slow updates im sorry :((, tags will be updated as we gooo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21872176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAANPUNCH5/pseuds/IAANPUNCH5
Summary: Felix loves old people.Okay, that sounds weird, but he does.He loves their wisdom and their advice and their stories. He loves his job at the retirement village. He loves visiting them and hearing about their families. Dodging their attempts to set him up with their grandchildren is a personal achievement; a three-year record.A three-year record broken in one minute by a simple portrait.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix
Comments: 20
Kudos: 86





	1. Photocards for Grandma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intro,, Chan gets to meet his grandmother yayayaya good times good vibes

Felix knocked on the door to the next flat, patiently waiting for its resident to open the door.  
Felix was a carer at his local retirement village, he had been for the past three years. He loved his job; it paid his rent and made him happy while he was still studying at uni. He adored most of the elderly people that lived there. He loved listening to their stories, noted their wisdom and laughed at their attempts to set him up with some of their grandchildren.

His job wasn’t particularly taxing; all he had to do was pop in for fifteen or so minutes and check up on the flat’s resident, help them with anything they needed (within certain limitations, of course, we was merely a uni student), and chat for a bit. He learned so many interesting things during his time there, and he would consider many of the residents his friends (or, at least very cool grandparents). On top of that, he also did housework. He vacuumed hallways, scrubbed walls and dusted the old piano at the front of the building. 

Felix smiled warmly when an elderly woman opened the door and let him inside her quaint apartment. It wasn’t much - just big enough to be home to a few essentials. A small dining table for two, decorated neatly with a fruit bowl full of small trinkets and knick-knacks, sat in front of the door. To the left of the door, there was a kitchenette; barely big enough to have the sink and microwave with enough space to prepare food on. Pictures lined the walls neatly, pointing towards the makeshift living room of a single recliner and two-seater couch. A T.V sat on a glass console table opposite the recliner, playing the morning news softly.

The elderly woman - Elizabeth - motioned for Felix to sit at the table with her.

“How are you, today, Felix?” she asked as he sat down. Felix hummed.

“I’m good. I just finished my first year at university."

Elizabeth clapped excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.  
“That’s great, I’m very proud of you! I know uni is hard.”

Felix nodded, smiling back at her. “What about you? Anything interesting happen since last time I saw you?"  
Elizabeth thought for a moment as she recalled the past day. She wasn’t too old that she forgot many things, but she was still old, she needed time to collect her scattered thoughts.

“Yas! My grandson came to visit me the other day,” She said. A fond smile graced her lips. “Actually, I have a photo of him!”  
Felix watched, amused as she lifted herself out of her chair and walked to her recliner. Felix hopped up and followed her, taking a seat on the couch.

“I think you’ll like him, he’s real good lookin'. He’s around your age.” She eyed Felix with a sly look, and Felix rolled his eyes playfully.

Elizabeth was aware of Felix’s sexuality, and sometimes he wished he’d never (accidentally) told her because she always made jokes to hook him up with someone. ‘You’re not young forever, make the most of it!’, she’d say, and proceed to tell Felix all about this cute boy who’d served her at a shop, or a pretty girl she thought he’d like.

Felix looked at the photo that Elizabeth had passed him. The photo looked like it was shot professionally, that was the first thing Felix noted, and he wondered how Elizabeth had managed to get it done, or if her grandson had paid for a professional photographer himself. In the background of the photo was one of the most beautiful views of a beach Felix had ever seen, capturing the light of the sunrise perfectly, casting a soft glow over the entire image. In the center of the image was a boy, about Felix’s age, sitting at a table with his eyes closed and chin resting contently on his hands, in one of the most adorable band-merch hoodies ever. Felix eyed the photo closer, taking in every detail that the camera captured - the way the light danced brilliantly off the boy’s features, the way his pale skin contrasted beautifully from the blue tones of the ocean, how content he looked. Elizabeth was right, this boy was the prettiest Felix had ever seen.

“Isn’t he the most handsome?” she asked, breaking Felix out of his trance. He hummed, there was no way he’d ever tell Elizabeth just how breathtaking her grandson was, though he was sure she’d already figured out he was completely enamored.

“Yeah, he’s cool.”

Elizabeth laughed. “One day, you’ll meet him,” She said, “His name is Chan, but I believe he likes his English friends to call him Chris.”  
Felix stored the name in his mental diary and made sure the image was firmly planted in his head before he handed the frame back over.

“Anyway,” Elizabeth spoke, “You’re supposed to be checking up on me, not checking out my grandson.”  
Felix spluttered, which only seemed to amuse the old woman.

“Right,” he said, coughing a little. He took his work tablet out of his bag.

He really did care a lot about Elizabeth, but some days he wished he could avoid her and her meddling with his love life.

\---

Chris had never stayed in one place for too long. Not that he hated staying in one spot for too long, but because he enjoyed traveling. 

After finishing high school, Chris still had no idea what he wanted to do. He had done well in school, never falling below a B, and though he did enjoy music and sports more than his other subjects, by the end of grade 12 when everyone was talking about their plans for the future, he still had none. 

So after saying goodbye to many high school friends - of whom he knew he would most likely never see again - he traveled, taking with him only his clothes and phone, his best friend Seungmin, and whatever money they’d managed to save up between them. 

Together they traveled through most of South Korea, Seungmin taking pictures of anything he could ( _many_ of Chris), and Chris admired the beauty of everything. 

Two months in, the two had run out of money. After explaining it to his grandparents, using the excuse of building his portfolio, Seungmin had managed to snag enough money to fund a trip for Chris to visit his family in Australia. 

Chris had moved away from his family at the age of fourteen in a student exchange program. His initial plan was to study in Korea for a year and move back home, but he decided to stay there with some family for the remainder of his schooling. 

Now, Chris stood at the front gates to his grandmother’s retirement village, staring at the block of units.

“What are you waiting for?” Seungmin asked, kicking Chris’s butt to move him inside the gate.

“Ow! Yeah, yeah alright! I’m going in, quit bullying me.”

“Quit bullying me,” Seungmin repeated in a childish, mocking tone, but Chris ignored him as he walked around, trying to find the right unit. 

Eventually, he found the place, after almost knocking over two plants and nearly pushing Seungmin off a balcony. The reality of the situation hit Chris suddenly, his hand freezing mid-knock.

He hasn’t seen his grandmother in years. He wasn't even sure if she wanted to see him.

"Oh my God, just knock." Seungmin moved forward and knocked for Chris.

A short, elderly woman opened the door and beamed as she recognized him.

“Channie, oh my _gosh_ you’re so tall! You’ve grown so much, You’re making me feel old. Come inside! Oh, you brought a friend!”

Chris and Seungmin were ushered inside, and they soon found themselves sitting in the small living room with tea.

“How’ve you been, Grandma?” Chris asked. Elizabeth laughed and waved off his question dismissively.

“I’m old, dear, I’m the same as always. I want to talk about _you._ ” 

Seungmin tried to hide his chuckles behind his tea. Elizabeth pointedly ignored him as she continued, “What’ve you been up to?

Chris hummed. He’d been up to so much if he hadn’t written it all down in a travel journal with Seungmin’s pictures printed and pasted into it, he was sure he’d forget. 

Speaking of said Journal, he whipped it out of his backpack and handed it over.

“I wrote everything in here,” he said, “I knew I’d forget heaps, and I wanted to remember every detail.” A soft smile played on his lips. His grandmother ran her hands over the journal’s cover before opening it to the first page.

"That was a good idea, people don’t often realize until they’re as old as me that their memory starts to fade after a while,” she said thoughtfully. "Your brain likes to change things and make stuff up about them, too."

“It was my idea,” Seungmin said. “Chan’s dumb, I knew he’d forget the moment we left.”

“Hey-!” Chris tried to protest but was cut off by Elizabeth.

“Absolutely,” she said. “Chan was always forgetful when he was small. I’m not surprised he still is.”

Chris made a sound of resignation. He couldn’t win this argument. 

It was quiet for a while as Elizabeth worked her way through the journal, reading the little notes attached to the spectacular photographs and occasionally chuckling at the notes Seungmin added and the occasional written banter between him and Chris.

“These photographs are lovely, who took them?” she asked after a while. Seungmin poked his head up from his cup.

“Me! I’m building up my portfolio, I want to be a photographer,” he said proudly. Chris smiled warmly at his best friend, pride in his friend filling his body with warmth and endearment. 

“These are so beautiful and well thought out,” Elizabeth replied. “I have no doubts you’ll make a fine photographer, one of the best, even.”

Seungmin beamed. Chris knew that although Seungmin hardly ever doubted his abilities, he loved praise over his work.

“Actually,” Seungmin said, reaching into his bag to pull a small wrapped gift out, “I brought something for you.”

Chris leaned forward, eyes training Seungmin’s movements. He hadn’t mentioned that he brought his Grandmother something.

Seungmin proudly held out the gift, waiting for Elizabeth to take it.

“Oh, dear, you shouldn’t have. Seeing my grandson and his best friend is enough of a gift.”

“I figured,” Seungmin replied, a shit-eating grin appearing on his features, “Which is why I thought this would be the perfect gift!”

Chan watched with bated breath as Elizabeth carefully opened the paper, and he’ll never be able to repay Seungmin for the amount of joy that his gift had brought his Grandmother. It was a photo frame, a bit smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, and inside was one of the best portraits of Chris that Seungmin had ever taken. It was of him, in his oversized Fall Out Boy hoodie, sitting in front of the sunset, half asleep. The image brought tears to Elizabeth’s eyes. Seungmin stood up quickly to pass her some tissues.

“Gahh, don’t cry! I just thought you’d like to see him.”

Elizabeth dabbed at her eyes and held the picture tightly.

“Thank you so much, Seungmin,” she said, “This means so much to me.” Chris gently took the photo from her hands, checking out the frame, and when he flipped it over, there was a selfie of him and Seungmin lying in bed together, peace signs to the camera though neither looked awake enough for a photo.

“Oh! Seungmin, you sneaky-” he ruffled Seungmin’s hair affectionately. Elizabeth took the frame and looked at the selfie, wiping her eyes as fresh tears formed.

"Its lovely, Seungmin. Thank you so much." Elizabeth said earnestly. 

Seungmin beamed. “It was the least I could do.”

Their conversation continued, Elizabeth reminiscing in her old memories of Korea and the boys updating her on what changed and what stayed the same. By the time they had fully caught up, their tea was finished and the sky was getting dark.

"It's getting late," Chris said, "Seungmin and I should head out before the buses all tuck in for the night."

Elizabeth stood up and walked them to the door. "Don't want to be walking home, dears," she joked.

Chris hugged Elizabeth. "It was so nice to see you again, after so long."

Elizabeth pulled back. "Thank you for coming to see me. I've missed you a lot, and it's nice to see you're doing well." She turned and pulled Seungmin into an equally crushing hug. "And you! Make sure you come back. Remind Chan to visit me. He'll forget, you know."

Seungmin laughed. "Sure thing."

"Thank you again for the photos Seungmin, they truly are amazing." Elizabeth took Seungmin's hand in hers, holding it in her palms delicately. 

Seungmin waved his free hand, "It's fine, I'll even bring more next time we come up."

"That would be amazing, thank you." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhh first fic!! very scary haha i promise the chapters will get longer!


	2. Table 9, Chris, and his Cheeky Grandmother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris comes back to hang out with his grandma, and he meets Felix :))

Two days after Chris visited his grandmother, he got a text from her (Yas! She's that kind of old woman) asking him to join her for the retirement village's games night. Chris sent back a quick "absolutely!", dragging Seungmin along with the promise that " _No, it will not have overwhelming old person smell."_

A week later, and he and Seungmin were once again outside Elizabeth's door, waiting for her to finish closing it up.

"You'll like games night," she said, locking the door, "There's a game for everyone there."

“Even Monopoly?” Seungmin asked, looking hopeful.

Chris didn't like the sneaky gleam in Seungmin's eyes, and gave him a good shove. “We’re not playing that game.”

Seungmin whined, shoving him back. “Why? It’s so fun!”

Chris chose to ignore Seungmin's whining; he always got what he wanted anyway.

There were already people in the dining hall when they got there. There wasn't too many people, certainly not everyone who lived there, yet the room felt full none the less, filling the room with a homely energy; like that of a family Christmas lunch. Chris couldn’t help but smile, reminding himself of the family gatherings his family had when he was younger. He remembered going to his cousins’ houses and staying at his grandparents'. Looking around, Chris spotted some residents he’d met before, snacks on the table he wanted to eat, and a cute boy peering out from the kitchen.

Chris pulled his attention away, looking for Seungmin and his grandmother. They were seated at table 9, towards the back, already nibbling at the snacks.

“Chris! Are you joining us?”

Chris sat next to Seungmin and elbowed his side. “I’ll team up with Seungmin.”

“The hell you will. I want to beat you, not lose to the elderly!”

Chris sighed, prepared for the inevitable moment when Seungmin would throw him under the bus. Seungmin was competitive, but when it came to Monopoly he was downright feral.

\--

Felix would have to be a fool to think that Chris wouldn’t visit his grandmother very often, to believe that he could continue his rounds at the retirement village and never see Elizabeth’s grandson again.

Well, call Felix a flaming galah because he may have done just that.

 _I may as well put on a big shiny nose and paint my face_ , Felix thought, slouching against the wall, _Because I’m the biggest clown in history._

Felix just about had a heart attack when he saw Chris sitting Elizabeth down at table 9 in the dining hall. Working in the kitchen, Felix knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid Chris and his cheeky grandmother for the whole night. 

“Felix, stop perving on the residents.”

Felix’s coworker yanked him back into the kitchen by his sleeve, yanking him out of his thoughts as well.

“I wasn’t perving, I was, well, looking.”

“Ogling the hot guy, you mean?”

Felix coughed, “Maybe.”

Felix didn't think Chris was hot.

Don't get him wrong, Chris _was_ hot, and Felix wasn't above staring at butts in tight jeans, but Chris wasn't _dressed_ to look hot then. If anything, Felix thought Chris looked cute in his over-sized hoodie and sweater paws. He figured his coworker was probably a femdom. Bless her soul.

“Cool, well, he's all yours my guy, and you can take this tray out to table 9 then.” She said.

“Oh, no thank you,” Felix said, “I’m sure someone else will be happy to take it for you.”

“Well I’m finishing up the cleaning right now and you’re the only other worker. Unless you’d like to scrub inside the oven?”

Felix peaked inside the oven door.

Green and black fuzz on the inside, gross sticky goo leaking out the sides, and a god awful smell of some kind of cheese, onion and death was all the persuasion Felix needed.

Yeah, he’d take his chances with Chris over that oven.

"Good luck, Felix." His coworker snickered.

He smacked her arm, though he knew she was genuinely rooting for him. "Be quiet, sticky beak."

Felix checked his reflection in the drink fridge door. His hair was messy and his face was smeared with sauce. After trying to make himself look presentable, he whisked through the tables with the tray of food for table 9.

Although Felix was nervous enough to fear dropping the tray (just what he’d need; dropping a whole tray of food in front of a cute guy), Elizabeth’s playful smile was enough to ease him.

“Your food, m’lady," he said, with the most posh accent he could do.

“Thank you, kind stranger.” Elizabeth pushed her Monopoly money away to make room for the tray. 

“Okay, well, enjoy your meal.” Felix made to leave, determined to not make a complete fool of himself in font of his, well, _what_ is _Chris? My crush?_ He'd never even spoken to the dude, but he couldn't deny he felt something for him. _Feelings are so weird. I don't want to think about this._

Elizabeth’s hand grabbed his shirt. “Don’t be a real stranger, Felix. Come sit.”

Chris pulled out a chair next to him.

“But I’m working-”

“Bugger that, they’re not gonna care if you sit here for a while.”

Felix weighed his options. If he stayed, he'd be forced into sitting next to Chris, who he was sure he wasn't mentally prepared to talk to. If he excused himself forcefully, he'd both look like an asshole and probably have to scrub the nightmare oven.

"I guess I can stay for a while."

"Wonderful!" Elizabeth began loading piles of food onto a plate for Felix.

Felix couldn’t get away from Elizabeth now that she’d roped him into staying for dinner.

“This is my grandson, Christopher,” she said. Chris winked and shot finger guns in Felix’s direction.

“Call me Chris. This is my best friend, Seungmin.”

Seungmin waved from across the table. “Hi! You can join our game, but we’re not giving you extra money for starting late.”

“We should give him something. It’s not fair to have him start late and not get anything.”

“He’s starting with more money than what we have now!”

“But he doesn’t own any properties! He’ll have to pay us rent.” Chris didn't even see the issue, considering Seungmin had more than double the starting amount.

Seungmin huffed, but handed Felix extra money regardless.

“Which token do you want?”

They were playing the Aussie Monopoly, and Felix always chose the same piece.

“Meat pie!” Chris passed him the token, and their hands brushed as he took it. Embarrassed, he looked away.

 _This is so cliche, but his hands are so pretty,_ Felix thought. He wished he could keysmash out loud.

They continued the game, Chris slipping Felix an extra fifty, and fifteen minutes in it was clear that Chris and Felix would not be winning.

They were out first, and a painfully long hour later it was Elizabeth that took first place.

“I’m old,” she said, “I know how to manage my money, and I grew up in capitalism.”

“Well, it was a fun game anyway,” Chris said, packing up the pieces.

“You lost,” Seungmin pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

Chris deflated a little. “It’s not about the outcome, Seungmin, it’s about, um, the _journey_.” He gestured vaguely upwards, perhaps in silent prayer to the Monopoly gods.

“You still lost to an old person, though,” Elizabeth said. “Maybe next time, dear.”

“You all bully me! This isn’t fair.” Chris looked at Felix. “You won’t team up with them, yeah?”

“Well… They _won_ …”

“Nooooo…” While Chris was being dramatic, going on about betrayal, capitalism, lost friendships and how much he hated Monopoly, the rest of them finished packing up the game.

“We should go, before Chris’ tears glue him to the table,” Seungmin said.

“Me too, it was a really fun night, though!” Felix followed the others out. “I guess I’ll be seeing you guys around then?”

“Yeah! I’m coming to visit Grandma at least twice a week. And you too.” Chris smiled at Felix, and he smiled back. “Before I go though, can I grab your number?”

“Me too!” Seungmin jumped forward.

"The name's Chris," Chris said, handing back Felix's phone. Felix knew that, why was he telling him again? Did he think Felix would forget? "But you can call me _anytime._ "

Seungmin groaned, tapping his face against the closest brick wall while Elizabeth laughed, holding her belly. Chris winked at Felix. 

"Oh my god." Felix's face heated up. "Right, I will, aha." He could’ve cried, he was too much of a panicked gay to flirt back.

Chris giggled, a sweater paw covering his mouth. "Sorry, should probably ask first."

"You gotta give me a warning, man," Felix replied, I don't have any good pick up lines to say back!"

"Well, it's a good thing you have my number then. You can text me all the pick up lines you want."

"If you two are done being insufferable, we have a bus to catch." Seungmin started pulling Chris away, but not before sending Felix a cheeky grin. They waved goodbye for the night as Seungmin and Chris headed towards the bus stop.

Felix walked Elizabeth to her unit.

“So, you got his number,” she said smugly.

“MA’AM _PLEASE_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> add "being gay in front of the elderly" to felix's resume.
> 
> skdhdauhuad sorry it took so long to update :(( school really fucked me up the ass this year,,, and i hope everyone's staying safe from miss rona !!


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